diff --git a/tools/releasetools/common.py b/tools/releasetools/common.py
index 5d310d2..8a60f7d 100644
--- a/tools/releasetools/common.py
+++ b/tools/releasetools/common.py
@@ -190,6 +190,25 @@
   return subprocess.Popen(args, **kwargs)
 
 
+def RunAndWait(args, verbose=None, **kwargs):
+  """Runs the given command and returns the exit code.
+
+  Args:
+    args: The command represented as a list of strings.
+    verbose: Whether the commands should be shown. Default to the global
+        verbosity if unspecified.
+    kwargs: Any additional args to be passed to subprocess.Popen(), such as env,
+        stdin, etc. stdout and stderr will default to subprocess.PIPE and
+        subprocess.STDOUT respectively unless caller specifies any of them.
+
+  Returns:
+    The process return code.
+  """
+  proc = Run(args, verbose=verbose, **kwargs)
+  proc.wait()
+  return proc.returncode
+
+
 def RunAndCheckOutput(args, verbose=None, **kwargs):
   """Runs the given command and returns the output.